Record book holder



Aug. 5, 1941. A. o. LARGE RECORD BOOK HOLDER Filed Aug. 2'7, 1940 Patented Aug. 5, 1941 UN1TED STATES PATENT OFFICE RECORD BOOK HOLDER Archie O. Large, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Application August 27, 1940, Serial No. 354,421

s claims. (o1. 281-1) This invention relates to improvements in record book carrying devices and pertains particularly to a device for carrying record books of the type which are required by Interstate Commerce Commission regulations to be carried by the operators of motor vehicles in interstate commerce.

Operators of commercial carriers such as trucks are required by law to keepa daily log record showing how the time of the operator of the truck is spent throughout the -day from the time that he goes on duty until the time that he goes off duty. In addition to this, it is required by law that the vehicle operator keep with him at all times a duplicate copy ofthe log record for a previous month or, in other words, the operator is required to keep duplicate copiesof daily operating records for thirty days. These log books are provided with the record sheets in duplicate and such sheets are so ruled as to facilitate the driver making his daily record by the drawing of lines along different portions of the record sheet.

In my copending application, Ser. No. 309,696, filed December 16, 1939, now issued as Patent Number 2,215,833 dated Sept. 24, 1946, there is disclosed a holderl for the log book with means associated therewith to facilitate the entering by the vehicle driver of the necessary daily record on a page of the book.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a log book carrier such as is disclosed in my copending application, which is constructed in a novel manner to facilitate the keeping with the current log book of the duplicate sheets or pages of the log book for a previous period, thus making it possible for the operator to conveniently comply with the law by having easily accessible the previous thirty days record of his operations together with the current record book.

Another object is to pro-vide a record book holder for the purpose stated wherein a novel means is provided for facilitating the maintenance of the current record book in a flat position with the used log book therebeneath, which position of the current log book enables the vehicle operator to conveniently enter therein the record of his daily operations.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed descripl tion taken in connection with the accompany-lng drawing forming part of this specication, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing- Fig. 1 is a View in plan of the log book holder showing the cover open and a log book therein.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional `View on the line 3-3 of' ing, the daily log" record book holder of the present invention comprises a relatively flat traylike body indicated generally by the numeral I and having the bottom wall 2, end walls 3 and 4 and side walls 5. The side walls have formed integrally therewith and extending longitudinally thereof the inturned guide flanges 5, the purpose of which will be hereinafter described. The end Wall 4 at its topy edge is flush with the top surfaces of these flanges but the opposite or head end Wall 3 for the holder extends slightly above the planes of the top surfaces of the flanges 6 and is integrally connected with the short top wall section 'l which along its free edge is formed to provide hinge knuckles 8 which extend transversely of the holder.

The numeral 9 designates a cover which is likewise provided with hinge knuckles I0 which cooperate with the knuckles 8 to form a hinge joint for the cover, the cover when in closed position resting upon the flanges 6 and the top edge of the end wall 4.

In the head end of the holder there is disposed beneath the top wall section l, a block of wood or similar material, as indicated by the rnumeral II, and which extends the full inside width of the holder. This block has a thickness substantially corresponding with the thickness of a used log record book and which carries two or more sleeves l2 which extend from its lower side upwardly above the top surface, these sleeves being interiorly screw threaded, as shown.

Extending through suitable apertures in the bottom 2 and engaging in the ends of the sleeves l2 are securing screws I3. These function to hold the sleeves and the block firmly in position. Disposed transversely of and within the holder and supported upon the top of the block Il is a clamp bar i4 which is of angled cross-section havmg one iiange I5 which is vertically disposed and which rests at its free edge upon the block II and the second iiange I6 which is normally substantially horizontally disposed and Which has its free edge slightly curved downwardly, as indicated at l1, from a gripping jaw edge. The horizontal iiange portion i6 of the clamping bar is provided with suitable apertures to have extended therethrough the clamp screws I3, each Y of which threadably engages in the upper end of a sleeve l2. The numeral I9 designates a used log record book. As previously stated, such record books are provided with duplicate pages so that after a book has been used, it will retain duplicates of the pages which were lled out and removed, therefore, at one end where the pages were secured together, the book will be of greater thickness than the remainder. This thickened end is indicated at 23' and as shown, When the used record book is placed in the holder,Y the which is preferably formed of a' transparent'material such as Celluloid or the like. Thisplate has a length substantially equal to the interior width of the holder so that when it is disposed transversely of the current log record book 2l, its end edges may be slidably engaged beneath the anges' 6. Since the material of which the plate 22 is formed 'is of resilient character, it will be readily apparent that the plate may be flexed sufficiently to make it possible to get the end edges beneath the flanges 6. The width of the plate 22 is approximately half the length of the sheets of the log record book so that the plate may be shifted lengthwise of the holder and the side edges may be used as guides or straight edges for the drawing of lines transversely of the page of the record book on which the plate lies. The plate is also provided with a series of slots 23 which extend transversely thereof or in thev direction of movement of the plate on the book and each of which is disposed so that it will overlie a particular line of the record book, thus enabling the user to draw a straight line along the selected line of the record sheet Vby the insertion of a pencil in a slot. In place of the continuous slots 23, the plate may be provided with rows of closely spaced apertures extending transversely of the plate or lengthwise of the record sheet, so that instead of placing a pencil in a slot and drawing the pencil lengthwise of the record sheet while holding the plate 22 stationary, the pencil may be placed in one of the apertures and moved withA the plate lengthwise of the sheet to form the desired line.

As shown in Fig. 1, the upper part of the record ysheet upon which the plate 22 lies is ruled for certain data such as the name kof the vehicle operator, the date etc.,'while the major portion of the page is divided longitudinally into a series of spaces, the upper one of which indicated by the numeral 24, has numerals therein indicating the twenty-four hours of the day, midnight being indicated at the extreme left of the column, and noon at the transverse center thereof.

Beneath the hour chart is a series of longitudinally extending spaces 25 which are numbered froml to 9, and in these spaces various records are kept according to the following illustration.

'I'he space l is for recording when the driver is oif duty while making a trip, it being understood that in such commercial vehicles two drivers are always carried so that one is working while the other one is resting, the record in this space I indicating the amount of time that the driver spends off duty, except the time spent in sleeping.

In the space 2, a record is made of the amount of time which a driver spends sleeping while on a trip.

Space 3 is for recording the amount of time in making incidental stops while the driver is actually driving or operating the vehicle.

The space 4 is for recording the time for making incidental stops or the periods of deadheading while the driver is riding and not in the sleeping berth.

The remaining columns 5, 6, 'l and 8 are for recording the time taken by a driver, while he is actually on duty, for performing various jobs or for other incidental matters such as loading, unloading, making out reports, making stops for meals or for gasoline, etc., and waiting for work or to be released from work, etc., and also for various other emergencies which he may b required to explain.

The last space 9 is for writing in incidental information.

From the illustration, it is Ibelieved that it will be readily apparent how, by the use of the pencil guide slots or guide means extending transversely of the transparent plate 22 and of the side edges for guiding the pencil transversely of the sheet, a continuous graph line may be laid off on a record sheet to set forth all matters incidental to the making of a run by a driver and by the use of this device, such lines can be laid off more accurately and with greater neatness than is possible at the present time where the driver must line the record sheet free-hand.

From the foregoing, it will be readily apparent that with the present invention, an operator of a commercial vehicle is able to keep his log record book in neat condition and in a manner which makes it convenient for him to enter his record as he drives along, and it also makes it possible for him to keep handy the previous lo'g book record as he is required by law to do.

The stencil plate 22 also makes it easy for the driver to turn to the current sheet of the record book as the plate can be left in position over the face of the sheet in use and the previous sheets can be turned down in their proper places when the holder is closed.

The back of the holder may be provided with a clip 26 of well-known standard character to enable the driver to keep other incidental papers secured to the back of the holder.

What is claimed is: Y Y

1. A record book holder, comprising a flat supporting body, a block member secured to a face of the supporting body adjacent an end of the body and extending transversely thereof, a clamping bar disposed above said block memberY and having one of two edges resting upon the block member, theother edge of said clamping bar forming a jaw, means coupling said bar with the block member, said jaw being arranged t0 have a current record book interposed between it and the block member, the block member being of substantially the same thickness as theused record book and having an edge of the latter disposed thereagainst and the current record book being supported on the used record book in a flat position.

2. A record book holder, comprising a at traylike receptacle having a bottom, side walls, and a head and foot wall, a at block body disposed upon the bottom transversely thereof and adjacent the inner side of the head wall, a clamp member secured to the top of the .block member and having a jaw disposed above the block adjacent to that edge of the block member which is remote from the head wall and in spaced relation with said block between which jaw and the block a current record book is clamped, said block lling the tray to a depth substantially equal to the thickness of the used record book to provide a continuous at surface with the used record book upon which the current record book may lie.

3. A record book holder, comprising a at traylike receptacle having a bottom, side walls, and a head and foot wall, a ilat block body disposed upon the bottom transversely thereof and adjacent the inner side of the head Wall, a clamp bar disposed above the block mem-ber and extending across the holder, said bar being of angled cross-section and having one angle portion resting on the block member and the other angled portion extending substantially parallel with the bottom of the holder and terminating at its free edge in a jaw, the jaw being in spaced relation with the block body and lying adjacent to that longitudinal edge of the block which is remote from the head wall to have interposed between it and the block body a current record book, the space between the plane of the top of the block engaged by the clamp bar and the receptacle bottom receiving the used record book and means connecting the said other iiange of the clamp bar with the block for drawing the said jaw edge toward the block body for the clamping of the current record book in position ARCI-IIE O. LARGE. 

